Curing…the most critical step in your cultivation process

Curecork Curing Series

What to know about Curing and Storing Part – 1 of a 4-part series

After spending months waiting for harvest, experienced cultivators know the most critical part of the process is still ahead…..curing. That’s right, curing is everything when it comes to achieving the optimal flavor, aroma, potency, and longevity of your buds. After the initial post-harvest drying phase of 1 to 2 weeks, there is still moisture in the buds and stems that need to be slowly removed over time. Dry to quickly at this point and your harvest will produce inferior, harsh, and stale product. Go too quickly into storage or packaging and you risk losing your entire harvest to dangerous mold.

Curing is done immediately following initial drying. And it’s this slow “drying” process where many good things happen to produce an optimal product. Curing develops Terpenes that produce the unique flavor profile you’re looking for. The minerals and sugars that develop naturally during initial drying are broken down in curing, producing a smoother product. And curing is also the time when maximum potency is achieved. When your product goes through proper curing you will achieve an all-around superior product. But curing needs to be done correctly for all these good things to happen

Even though the need for curing is widely understood, the challenge most cultivators face is how to cost effectively control, manage, and automate the curing process. Once harvested and dried, product is placed in various size curing contains. From this point, curing typically becomes a manual and largely un-regulated process. With thousands of dollars of product in each curing container why risk producing an inferior product or worse losing the entire container to mold or over-drying, due to lack of a controlled and automated process. Manually opening containers and periodically touching or smelling the product or even taking random humidity measurements is risky at best and will never consistently produce the same results in terms of quality, flavor profile and potency.

Instead the curing process should be controlled and automated so that each container is maintained at a specified Relative Humidity level between 58% and 63% R.H. for the entire curing period of 4 to 8 weeks. Each container should also be aerated or “burped” at specific time intervals creating the optimal curing environment within each container. Closely monitoring humidity also ensures that mold is never allowed to build up destroying the product or letting over-drying occur. Automation guarantees a premium and consistent product every time. If you are cultivator branding a specific strain and marketing specific flavor profiles and characteristics of your product, then automated and controlled curing is even more important in maintaining a consistent final product.